Watch Now: Dead Horses Piled Up in ‘Graveyard’ Near Grand Egyptian Museum
Horses and camels used for tourist rides near the pyramids of Egypt are perishing in numbers higher than ever before. Ahead of the official opening of the historic new Grand Egyptian Museum, PETA Asia sent a letter to President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi alerting him to damning new footage of dead horses – used to give tourists rides through Egypt’s historic sites – piled up in a secret graveyard close to the new museum’s walls.
Injured, Emaciated, and Left for Dead
Watch the new video to see horses and camels forced to give rides near the pyramids dying in record numbers, with many horses severely emaciated and suffering from untreated wounds:
This new footage comes six years after PETA Asia first documented the lives of the horses and camels in Egypt. Every day, they are forced to carry tourists in the blistering heat without shade or adequate water. They are punched, kicked, whipped, and beaten into submission, and live their lives in a constant state of hunger and exhaustion.
Emaciated animals resort to digging through rubbish in desperate attempts to find food. They are denied veterinary care and may spend their entire lives in constant agony from wounds. When they are too old, sick, or injured to be profitable, they are left for dead and some camels are sent for slaughter.
A Secretive Industry
Shockingly, police and government authorities in Egypt are cooperating with those who exploit animals for profit, rather than clamping down on cruelty. On one occasion, a park visitor who took photos of the pyramids was detained by police and a representative from the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. They demanded that the visitor delete the photos, falsely claiming it was illegal to document the horses. While this was happening, horses were being violently whipped all around them.
Egypt must act to protect horses and camels from this cruelty and give them hope for a better future.
A Plea to Egypt’s President
The highly anticipated Grand Egyptian Museum is located just over a mile from the pyramids and Great Sphinx of Giza. It’s set to become the largest museum in the world dedicated to a single civilisation, showcasing more than 5,000 artefacts. The opening will mark a hugely significant day for the country – and Egypt has the chance to make it significant for animals, too, by finally moving away from cruel animal rides.
Egypt’s President needs to use this historic moment to honour Egypt’s past and its boundless capacity for mercy and progress. PETA Asia has urged him to allocate a portion of the museum’s profits to create a sanctuary that would relocate and retire every single horse and camel from the pyramids area. This would give these sensitive, complex beings who have laboured and suffered there the chance to finally live free and joyfully.
Travel Companies Ditch Cruel Camel Rides
By doing the right thing for horses and camels, the Egyptian government would be moving in the same direction as the global travel industry. After hearing from PETA entities, more than 50 tour operators and travel companies – including Airbnb, Marriott, British Airways Holidays, Scott Dunn and Travel Republic – confirmed that they will not offer camel rides at the pyramids.
Camels and Horses Need YOUR Help
Join us in calling on Egyptian officials to catch up with public opinion and end this cruelty by imposing a ban on tourist horse and camel rides at the pyramids and other tourist sites.
Please also take a moment to urge the travel companies to stop promoting these cruel rides:
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